Awareness & early detection

Some stuff in the world seems to pass you by as if it will never apply to yourself, only to other people.Breast Cancer is a disease of epidemic proportions, but in the last decade or so a great deal of progress has been made in the treatment of it.
The key is to be aware of the risks, detection and tests out there. It really is something that is very beatable if picked up early.

Awareness. Not just women, but their men too. Everyone needs to educate themselves a little bit more than from what they think they know.

Take some time now to read this site BreastCancer.org. Be aware of what to look for. Get regular checks. Get anything odd checked early. Get second opinions and be suspicious of anything until it's cleared.

Awareness will save a life.

Sometimes people overlook simplicity

Here is an interesting theory about the construction of Stonehenge. Makes a lot of sense to me.

AutoCAD Art

After much hassle, I am finally teaching myself AutoCAD Architectural desktop. Wow. Sometimes I come across something that is like an extension of my mind.

Apart from all the cool building design I am doing right now, it seems some people are right into using Autocad 3D extensions to do art. How good can it possibly be?

Check out this picture (click on it to go to full size):

Here is the link to it, and others: http://www.creative-3d.net/GalleryDisplay.cfm?ID=19908

Update: I just noticed how weird that pic looks due to the wide angle perspective. The vertical edges look like they are tilting in. Interesting.

Bamboozled

It amazing what you come across online when you are mindlessly bored and randomly clicking shit doing productive research. Today I was looking for a pic of a bamboo forest for the new incarnation of frashcards.com (yes it's a real domain - I bought it last night for $8.95, what a bargain).
Anyway, I should get to what I discovered....

This site: http://www.bmeres.com/bambooframe.htm which is about a bike a guy made out of bamboo. Looks pretty neat. He's got a review of how it performed over a whole year. Very nice job.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Planet Gmail

WARNING: Geek Alert

What is strange about this screen shot from my gmail inbox?The email dates are old. Really old. In fact so old they are from before Gmail was even invented.

As mentioned earlier, after a bit of searching, I have found out a way to put all my old Microsoft Outlook based emails on Gmail - but not only that, have them stored with the correct delivery date and original sender information.

Some people may not care about the significance of this, some will be put to sleep by it, others will find this information ecstaticly exciting and useful. For those 3 people out there, here are the steps to do it...

1. Use Outlook to open your old mail file (if you use Outlook Express, skip this step)

What you need to do here is have a clean out and a tidy up, if you haven't already. In Gmail, you will have to adopt the 'search not sort' mentality, so any folders in Outlook will need to be replaced with labels in Gmail. (But that's ok. I Gmail a message can have more than one label. With folders, it's either in the folder or not.)
Once all clean and tidy, you can close Outlook. For good.

2. Open Outlook Express

Use the menu to import your mail from MS Outlook. It's a reasonbly fast process, and may seem unnecessary, but later steps work faster if Outlook mail is converted to Outlook Express.

3. Install a local host mail server

Yeah yeah, I know, this kinda freaked me out too, having never done this stuff before. But, it was pretty easy using Macallan Mail Server (free). Make sure you go into the users tab and create yourself a mailbox, and assign a password. Takes a few minutes to do this whole step (seriously).

4. Install Mozilla Thunderbird

From the people who brought you Firefox, here is Thunderbird, a free email front end. Once you have Thunderbird installed, you need to download the redirect extension. Install the extension to Thunderbird by going Tools>Add-ons>Install, and browse to the redirect extension and install it.
You then need to add the mailbox you created on the mail server to Thunderbird in the accounts setup.

5. Import Outlook Express emails into Thunderbird

This is pretty straight forward. Tools>import>outlook express. Takes a short time to process.
Pretty soon we will be uploading emails from thruderbird to the web.

6. Create a temporary Gmail account

If you upload your emails directly to you main Gmail, you'll find the 'received date' will be wrong. It will be the actual date (i.e. now) your main Gmail received it.
But, if you upload your emails to a temporary Gmail account, and then use Gmail's Mailfetcher to POP them over to your main Gmail account then miraculously the dates are corrected back to the original.
So, create a temporary Gmail account, and in settings>Forwarding and POP: enable POP for all mail. Also, select the 'delete Gmail's copy' so it's really easy to see if there are any remaining emails in the temporary account that need to be retrieved by the main Gmail.

7. Upload old email

Go into Thunderbird and select a folder to upload. (It's highly recommended to upload your old emails in folder lots so you can easily create lables for them in Gmail once they have arrived. Then repeat the upload process for another folder.)
Anyway, open a folder, and select ALL emails in it. Choose Message>Redirect and enter the email address of your temporary Gmail account.
I'd suggest you practice with a small folder first.
The redirect(upload) step may take some time, depending on your upstream speed on your internet connection. It's the sort of thing you can let churn away while you sleep.

8. Retrieve old email from temporary Gmail account to main Gmail account.

If you log into your temporary gmail account, you should see your uploaded emails (give it time, of course). Go into your spam folder and select>ALL and hit the "Not Spam" button. For some reason about half of my uploaded mail ended up in the spam folder (maybe the old date confuses it or something).
Once you have all your uploaded emails (remember just one folder worth) in your temporary Gmail account inbox, we can do the last part.

Log into your main Gmail account (I find it easier to use different browsers for each, like IE for my temp gmail and Firefox for my main gmail) .
Go to settings>accounts>get email from other accounts.
Click Add account, and put in your temporary gmail account details here. You should just need to add the login ID and password, and leave the other settings as they are.
Click save settings.

Now, your main Gmail account will periodically check your temporary Gmail account and retrieve any messages from the inbox. Generally, it will do it in 200 email batches every so often, but you can go into the accounts page and force more checks.

9. Tidy up and label Old emails

Your main gmail account will be receiving the old emails in it's inbox. Once again, you have to also check your spam folder and move those emails to inbox also. (it pays to empty out your spam folders before doing all this)
Once done, you will see Inbox(125) or similar in bold, indicating unread emails, but this time your inbox has been correctly sorted with the original sent date. This means you have to click on 'oldest' to see them.
An easier way is to use 'search options' up the top, and choose 'Search: unread' and hit search without any other criteria. Select ALL messages, and then the 'Choose ALL'
Label these mails according to the folder name. Then select 'mark as read', and then select 'None'.

That's it. If you now go and have a look, your old emails are now in Gmail in the exact format they would be if they were sent there years ago. The dates are correct, as is the sender info etc etc.

Repeat steps 7-9 with each folder, allowing enough time for the emails to travel to their destination before continuing.
Yes it takes time, but once each folder is set going you can leave it.

Gmail Archive

Once you have got all your old emails in your main gmail account, you may like to archive them. You can select whichever mails you would like to archive using lables or searchs, and then hit the 'Archive' button.
This will remove them from the main inbox view, but they will still be searchable. If you need to browse thru archived mail, just select 'All Mail' on the left.

If you are super paranoid, you can periodically use a Gmail archive utility to download a copy of your mails to burn to a DVD....or you can use the POP facility to download to a HDD.....or you can use the mail fetcher to put a copy onto an second 'archive' gmail. (just select 'leave a copy in my inbox' on your mail gmail...ha)

Enjoy.

This post was only made possible with information I found here (the mail server thing),
and here(the temporary gmail account concept)

Safekeeping

Warning: GEEK ALERT

My mission is to get ALL on the stuff I care about OFF my computer.

I am in the process of putting all my MP3s, Photos and Videos (mainly AVI copies of my DVDs) onto Network Storage device (AKA Portable hard drive hooked up to my home network). That way, PC's on my home network(up to 4: [1 decent one,1 semi decent, 2 shitters] in various places now) can access that stuff, which is pretty handy (think: choosing a DVD to watch in bed on the laptop wirelessly, accessing the whole MP3 library wirelessly, sharing some photos on the TV etc etc - all at the same time.)
So that is the media taken care of. What about emails? MS Outlook famously sucks at not easily allowing multiple machines to access a single Outlook account. I decided that online mail WOULD allow multi location (simultaneously if needed)access to a common email account, which is just one reason I have converted the whole Truant house to Gmail.
I have been raving about Gmail for a while and after 18 months or so of using it I am convinced that it's actually safer to keep stuff like emails and documents online as opposed to locally on your own computer. The main advantages for me is now I don't need to worry about backing up my data if/when my PC crashes. Sure, I could run RAID and be more diligent with backing up stuff, but after a while having DVDs of data sitting around isn't exactly ideal either - you could lose it, or it could fall into the wrong hands. Anyway, I digress.
But what about the OLD outlook emails? Wouldn't it be nice to put them on my Gmail so I can really get rid of all that old stored stuff?

After a bit of investigation I found out how to do it. I mean properly, not some half assed 'forwarding' type of solution.

Scroobius Pip vs Dan Le Sac

Here are 2 videos of the same track.
First one is the official music video, which features some really clever, but subtle, video tricks.



The second one is the live version. Check out Dan Le Sac on his Apple Notebook with some other gadget attached to it. Sounds pretty cool.

Grey Matter

Square A and Square B are the same shade of grey. They ARE.Check out the proof and other brilliant illusions here.

Studley by name, Studley by nature

Back in the mid 90s, I remember picking up a magazine at the military dentist. Airforce magazine or flight international or something like that. Inside was a picture I stared and stared at. It was an advertisement for something, I can't remember what - but I never forgot the image.
It's been well over 10 years and I was chatting to my mate Irish Stu about this tool chest I once saw, and how impressive it was.
Well, after describing it to Stu, I figured I do my darndest to find it on the web.
Using image google, I was surprised to find it within minutes.....so here it is:
The Studley Tool Chest

Massachusetts piano maker Henry Studley built his magnificent tool chest over the course of a 30-year career at the Poole Piano Company. The chest lived on the wall near his workbench, and he worked on it regularly, making changes and adding new tools as he acquired them. Using ebony, mother-of-pearl, ivory, rosewood, and mahogany -- all materials used in the manufacture of pianos -- he refined the chest to the point that now, more than 80 years after his death, it remains in a class of its own.

Considering how many tools it holds, the famous chest is really quite small; when closed, it is just 9 in. deep, 39 in. high, and just more than 18 in. wide. Yet it houses so many tools -- some 300 -- so densely packed that three strong men strain to lift it.

For every tool, Studley fashioned a holder to keep it in place and to showcase it. Miniature wrenches, handmade saws, and some still unidentified piano-making tools each have intricate inlaid holders. Tiny clasps rotate out of the way so a tool can be removed. In places the clearances are so tight that the tools nearly touch. The chest, which hangs on ledgers secured to a wall, folds closed like a book. And as the chest is closed, tools protruding from the left side nestle into spaces between tools on the right side. Amazingly, despite being so densely packed, the tools are all easily accessible.

Studley was well into his 80s when he retired from the piano company. Before he died in 1925, Studley gave the tool chest to a friend. That man's grandson, Peter Hardwick, loaned the chest to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s and later sold it to a private collector in the Midwest. That owner again sold the tool chest to another private collector, where it now resides.

Fine Woodworking Magazine Article (incl High Res downloads)

The Plywood Tree

Here is an interesting site detailing what I guess you'd call, well I dunno what.

http://plywoodtree.grographics.com/


Basically, a guy creates a tree out of plywood, and then chops it down, recycles it into a sheet of plywood and then returns it to Home Depot for a refund. Some kind of statement I guess.

Personally, I really like the tree he made, and it is a shame to chop it down after all that work.

Flying at Apo Island

Here is a short video I shot when we were in the Philippines for a dive trip a few weeks back.

How to: Picture Signature in Gmail

Gmail seems to be the wonder email program, for me at least.

I like the fact that it's online, so it's automatically backed up/archived online without me ever having to stress out about my pc crashing or losing contacts etc etc.
It's also great for being able to log into from multiple machines anywhere on earth and do emailing (try doing that with Outlook)
It just gets better and better, but there is one thing that Gmail has been lacking since day one: HTML authoring or embedded picture signatures. Or HAS it been lacking????

So, here is the solution:

Firstly the set up.
1. Host a picture online. Make sure it isn't too big and host it at photobucket or imageshack or flickr etc, or put it on your own domain somewhere

2. Use a text editor such as notepad or wordpad (or a WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver, front page or Google Page Creator) to create an html file.
If you have never done that before, in XP go: start>programs>Accessories>Notepad

Put this code into the editor:


Then save the file to your desktop as "my_signature_file.html"

How to use it?
Once you have this file, whenever you want to embed this signature pic to a new email, just open the file, and use your mouse to select and drag the picture over to your new gmail window.
Another way is to open the file then ctrl-A (or edit>select all), then ctrl-C (or edit>copy) and then go to your gmail window and ctrl-V (or edit>paste)

That's it. Oh by the way, if you want to include some text in the html file along with the picture, that is not a problem and it will all come over together.

Wanna know a dirty little secret? You can also drag ANY image from ANY website. How about THAT!!

Living Homes

Wow. It's not that often that a website blows me.....away, but here it is: Living Homes.net
It's another modular building company, but as you'll see these guys are hitting it hard. Serious eco responsibility theme going on here. This is architecture, design and technology blended together perfectly. Awesome.

Go and check out that website tho, seriously. It's really cool. The front page is made up of timelapsed sequences showing the house through out the day.
There is a video showing a cool time lapse sequence of the house being erected on the site in 8 hrs.

It worth having a poke around at other things, particularly take the tour.

LivingHomes.net

Trailer Trash

I like retro caravans, and mark my words they will make a comeback. Vintage caravans are where it's at.

Anyway, I came across this interesting site that is all about making you own retro travel trailer. $60 USD gets you all the plans and info you need to make your own caravan.
http://www.desertteardrops.com/

Plug + Play Construction

This interesting article in wired magazine reminds me of something I have thought about for years: Modular housing. The concept itself isn't new, but previously it's been done only to a certain level.

This "Loblolly" house by kierantimberlake.com is a prototype of a true plug and play house which incorporates wiring, communications, plumbing, heating etc into the wall, floor and roof modules.

"THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY to construct a house is to build it in a factory. This reduces a home's "embodied energy" – the amount of power expended in its fabrication and construction. And conventional homebuilding is dirty work. From the fuel used by commuting workers to onsite diesel generators, the construction and operation of homes and other structures generates 40 to 50 percent of all the greenhouse gases in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration."

Wired Magazine Article
Loblolly House homepage

Juxtaposed: Religion

As far as Art goes, I quite like this....

5,084,000,000 people 5,360 pages 3,700 years 243 countries 7 books 1 shelf

San Francisco designers Mike and Maaike have created JUXTAPOSED:Religion the first in a series of Juxtaposed curated bookshelves for blankblank.
“For the first time, the world’s most influential religious texts are brought together and presented on the same level, their coexistence acknowledged and celebrated.”
(I don't agree with that emotional fluff, but I like the resulting art)The shelf is made of reclaimed hardwood and is offered in a limited edition of 50.

mikeandmaaike.com
blankblank.net

Sketch Furniture

This year I am going to be busy, so I will write less, but post more. Mainly interesting things I find online.

First up is Sketch Furniture.

The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined.

Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture.

I really like the concept. Just not sure I'd like to look at a scribble in my living room for any length of time. (unfortunately, the youtube video is no longer up - that would have been interesting I am sure)

http://www.frontdesign.se/sketchfurniture/

Welcome 2007

Wow, it's been a hectic last 4-5 weeks or so, and now that I am back at work I will hopefully be able to do some more blogging get back to a normal sort of routine.

Here goes.